MADPET is for the Abolition of Death Penalty, an end of torture and abuse of rights by the police, an end to death in custody, an end to police shoot to kill incidents, for greater safeguards to ensure a fair trial, for a right to one phone call and immediate access to a lawyer upon arrest, for the repeal of all laws that allow for detention without trial and an immediate release of all those who are under such draconian laws.

Friday, January 25, 2013

What is needed is prompt independent investigations - and somehow the police themselves cannot do this especially when police officers are the alleged perpetrators...

Sadly, also is that many coroners, public servants,... even magistrates and judges are biased in favour of the authorities, governed by a mindset that the police can do no wrong ...or that if there was a wrong-doing, it was a 'reasonable' mistake - hence that kind of attitude affects their investigations, medical examinations, autopsies, decisions, judgments..

Things must change, and it is time for truth and justice to prevail. Let's realize that there are GOOD police and there are rotten apple - it does no good to protect the 'bad ones' or cover up actions that were not just legally, but also morally wrong. We need to 'clean up' the police,... Sometimes, when it comes to the police, 'fear' still plays a part in the minds of doctors, medical examiners and even coroners - and this must end. Be honest...be truthful.. just let the truth surface...

Unconvinced
that 39-year-old Sugumar Chelliah had mysteriously dropped dead of a
heart attack after being pursued by the police, his family is determined
on a second autopsy to get to the truth.

When contacted, one of the family’s lawyers Latheefa Koya (right) said the family hopes to get the second autopsy done as soon as possible.

"We
are definitely arranging a second post-mortem. We are looking for
another hospital and a pathologist who will be willing to do it. We are
not sure when ... hopefully today," she said.

Latheefa added
that the family was unconvinced with the first post-mortem by Serdang
Hospital as the institution had a history of falsifying the post-mortem
report as in the death-in-custody case of A Kugan.

In
Sugumar's case, Serdang Hospital’s post-mortem concluded he died as a
result of a blockage in heart and that no other injuries were found on
his body.

Witnesses, however, claim that Sugumar, a security
guard, was pursued by four police officers for damaging pubic property,
and was subsequently handcuffed, his face smeared with turmeric powder
and beaten to death in which a mob joined in at Taman Pekaka, Hulu Langat.

Police cite witnesses denying beatings

In a report today, pro-government daily Utusan Malaysia quoted
Selangor CID chief SAC Mohd Adnan Abdullah as saying that they had
taken the statements of 11 witnesses, 10 of whom claimed that the
alleged beating by the police did not take place.

"One more witness was a victim who had his head knocked by the suspect (Sugumar)," Utusan quoted Mohd Adnan saying.

In
response, Latheefa pointed out there were at least three witnesses who
had observed the incident but the police have yet to record their
statements.

Asked if they will voluntarily come forward to the
police, Latheefa said, "With this kind of pressure, I am not sure if
they are willing to go on their own. But we will try to get their
cooperation."

She also criticised the police for declaring their personnel innocence even before a thorough investigation has been conducted.

"It
looks very biased, we can't rely on such an investigation. We demand
that the inspector-general of police prepare an independent team instead
of repeating that they (police) are innocent," she said.

‘Police foil report lodging’

She
disputed the police’s explanation of Sugumar's death, pointing out they
have yet to explain the traces of turmeric powder found on the victim’s
face, allegedly smeared by one of their personnel.

Latheefa
added that the family yesterday attempted to lodge a police report on
the matter at the Kajang district police headquarters, but their efforts
were frustrated.

"The police made an issue out of it, limiting
the number of the people who could go into the police station, and the
OCPD did not want to cooperate.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Four
policemen are alleged to have chased after, handcuffed and then smeared
turmeric powder on the face of a security guard, before beating him to
death together with a mob at Taman Pekaka, Hulu Langat yesterday.

The
body of the victim Sugumar Chelliah, 40, is currently at Serdang
hospital with his hands still handcuffed, claimed PKR human rights and
legal bureau chief Latheefa Koya when contacted this afternoon.

Latheefa (left), who is at the hospital with Sugumar's family, said they are still waiting for the preliminary findings of the post-mortem.

She
claimed that family members had been waiting to see the body after
receiving a call from the police at 11.30pm last night informing them
about Sugumar’s death.

Latheefa, who claims to have spoken to a
person alleging to have witnessed the incident, said it took place at
around 6.30pm yesterday.

According to her further, the eyewitness claimed police pursued the victim near to a cemetery there.

However, it was still not known why the deceased was being chased by police in the first place.

“He was beaten, handcuffed and one of the police personnel took out turmeric powder and more (beating) by 10 to 20 people.

“Police then brought a stretcher and covered the body with the stretcher,” he said.

She
added that the deceased is believed to have been left by the roadside
since his death at around 7pm till about 11pm, when a police forensic
team arrived at the scene and took the his body to Serdang Hospital.

Hospital staff called police

PKR
deputy human rights and legal bureau deputy chairperson S Jayathas, who
was also at the hospital today, said a disturbance occured outside the
morgue when hospital staff refused to allow Sugumar’s family to identify
his body.

He claimed the situation became tense after the
hospital counter staff refused to entertain family members who had
arrived there, and instead called the police to handle the matter.

“The
counter staff all went inside (the hospital). They called six security
guards and around 20 police personnel, including four with M-16 rifles,
to stand guard,” he said.

He added that at first, the investigating officer only permitted one family member to identify the body.

However, after discussing the matter with laywer N Surendran (left in photo), police allowed Surendran, Kapar MP Manickavasagam and four relations to see the body, Jayathas said.

Accoording to him, Manickavasagam established that the victim was still in handcuffs.

Latheefa
said she, together with the deceased’s family, will determine the next
course of action in a few hours times, after first studying the
post-mortem findings.

Friday, January 11, 2013

After, these persons are shot dead, the Malaysian police try to prejudice the public by painting a negative picture of the dead victims, who after all cannot anymore defend themselves. What about the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law?

The
police shot dead two of seven escaped detainees in a shootout today
after they attempted to slip through a dragnet and get out of Penang.

Penang
police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi said the dead men were Mohd Fairuz
Adam, who was also known as Joe Mafia, and Mohd Noor Mustafa, a member
of the Joe Mafia gang.

"A preliminary investigation revealed that they had attempted to flee the state," he told reporters at Bukit Mertajam.

He
said the car they were traveling in, and the pistols they had used had
been obtained from members of the Joe Mafia gang still at large.

Abdul
Rahim said the police received a tip-off at 12.30pm that the two
detainees were in the Kubang Semang area and began tailing them 15
minutes later.

"The police ordered them to stop their car, but they refused and sped off towards Kampung Padang Ibu near Kampung Pelet.

"They
drove onto a side lane with the police giving chase, for up to three
kilometres. Then the police shot at the car's tyres, forcing the driver
to lose control of the vehicle and subsequently crashed into a canal.

"The two men started firing at the police and a shootout occurred," he said.

He
also said that the police had received a tip-off that a third detainee
was seen buying food at a petrol kiosk along the Kulim-Butterworth
highway near Bukit Mertajam at about 2am.

Abdul Rahim said the
seven detainees moved about in two groups, one comprising the two Joe
Mafia gang members who were shot dead today, and the other comprising
the remaining five.

"We advise those still at large to give themselves up," he said.

Abdul
Rahim said the police had launched a massive hunt for the five other
detainees by deploying 250 personnel from the air unit and the General
Operations Force as well.

He advised the people not to shelter the detainees, saying that they could be charged with harbouring criminals.

"Police
investigation showed that members of the public had given them food
such as bread. We hope the public will cooperate with the police," he
said.

At about 9am on Monday, nine detainees being transported in
a police van from the Penang prison to the courts complex in
Butterworth caused a commotion, blinding the escorting policemen with
curry powder when they stopped the vehicle to investigate at the outer
ring road, then beating them up before fleeing with the van.

Two
of the nine were arrested as they stood by the van which was abandoned
in Kampung Padang Chempedak, Tasek Gelugor. The other seven fled towards
an oil palm plantation in Ara Kuda. - Bernama

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

The General Assembly,

Guided by the purposes and principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,

Reaffirming its resolutions 62/149 of 18 December 2007, 63/168 of 18 December 2008 and 65/206 of 21 December 2010 on the question of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, in which the General Assembly called upon States that still maintain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing it,

Welcoming Human Rights Council decision 18/117 of 28 September 2011,

Mindful that any miscarriage or failure of justice in the implementation of the death penalty is irreversible and irreparable,

Convinced that a moratorium on the use of the death penalty contributes to respect for human dignity and to the enhancement and progressive development of human rights, and considering that there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty,

Noting ongoing local and national debates and regional initiatives on the death penalty, as well as the readiness of an increasing number of Member States to make available to the public information on the use of the death penalty,

Noting also the technical cooperation among Member States in relation to moratoriums on the death penalty,

1. Expresses its deep concern about the continued application of the death penalty;

2. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolution 65/2065 and the recommendations contained therein;

3. Also welcomes the steps taken by some Member States to reduce the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed and the decisions made by an increasing number of States, at all levels of Government, to apply a moratorium on executions, followed in many cases by the abolition of the death penalty;

4. Calls upon all States:

(a) To respect international standards that provide safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, in particular the minimum standards, as set out in the annex to Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/50 of 25 May 1984, as well as to provide the Secretary-General with information in this regard;

(b) To make available relevant information with regard to their use of the death penalty, inter alia, the number of persons sentenced to death, the number of persons on death row and the number of executions carried out, which can contribute to possible informed and transparent national and international debates, including on the obligations of States pertaining to the use of the death penalty;

(c) To progressively restrict the use of the death penalty and not to impose capital punishment for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age and on pregnant women;

(d) To reduce the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed;

(e) To establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty;

5. Calls upon States which have abolished the death penalty not to reintroduce it, and encourages them to share their experience in this regard;

6. Also calls upon States that have not yet done so to consider acceding to or ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty;

7. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session on the implementation of the present resolution;

8. Decides to continue consideration of the matter at its sixty-ninth session under the item entitled “Promotion and protection of human rights”.

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

The
Malaysian Bar is once again appalled and deeply troubled that yet
another person has died in police custody. 32-year old K Nagarajan was
found dead on 24 Dec 2012, before his scheduled court appearance, after
having spent three nights in the Dang Wangi police station lock-up.
According to the police, he died from a fall, but his family reportedly
found inexplicable injuries on his body.

It is shocking that individuals continue to die in such highly
suspicious circumstances while under the care of the police, which
raises very alarming questions about the treatment of detainees in
police custody and the methods of interrogation used.

The duty of the police is set out in very clear terms in the leading judgment of Lord Bingham of Cornhill in Amin, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2003] 4 All ER 1264, where Lord Bingham said:

. . . a state must not unlawfully take
life and must take appropriate legislative and administrative steps to
protect it. But the duty does not end there. The state owes a
particular duty to those involuntarily in its custody. . . . Such
persons must be protected against violence or abuse at the hands of
state agents. They must be protected against self-harm. . . .
Reasonable care must be taken to safeguard their lives and persons
against the risk of foreseeable harm.

Death
in custody, especially under dubious conditions, is among the worst
crimes one can imagine in a civilised society under the rule of law.
The burden of proving that such a death did not occur by foul means
must surely fall squarely on the law enforcement agency in question.
The reasons are plain: the victim was being held in isolation and was
wholly within the control of the detaining authority; rarely are there
independent witnesses to such a crime, as the witnesses are generally
interested parties or persons under enquiry; and the police adhere to a
strict chain of command code and are bound by a “blue wall of silence”.

Based
on the statistics disclosed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 156
persons died in police custody between 2000 and February 2011, and this
was reportedly at least the sixth incident of custodial death at the
hands of the police in 2012. Such tragedies underscore the dire need
for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission
(“IPCMC”), to function as an independent, external oversight body to
investigate complaints about police personnel and to make the police
accountable for their conduct. K Nagarajan’s death is inexcusable, and
is another incident demonstrating that the police are unable to police
themselves.

The
Malaysian Bar calls for an immediate inquest into the incident, which
is a matter of utmost public interest and warrants the highest level of
priority. Although Chapter XXXII of the Criminal Procedure Code
requires that all custodial deaths be investigated by way of inquest, no
inquest is held in most instances. Every death in custody must be
thoroughly and impartially investigated. K Nagarajan’s death must not
be relegated to a mere statistic.

The
Malaysian Bar also calls on the authorities to urgently implement
structural reform, where inquests are concerned. Recent enquiries into
deaths of persons that occur whilst in the custody of, or in or around
the premises of, law enforcement agencies, have resulted in “open”
verdicts.

The
Malaysian Bar thus urges the Government to introduce a Coroners’ Act,
and establish a Coroners’ Court with the following features:

(1)A clearly-stated aim, which will focus on identifying the deceased and ascertaining how, when and where the person died;

(2)The
creation of an official position of a State Coroner, and Coroners.
These are appointed by the Prime Minister upon the recommendation of
the Chief Justice. The State Coroner must be a Sessions Court Judge, ie
a more senior position than that of a Magistrate, who currently
conducts the inquests;

(3)The
Coroner would be responsible for supervising investigations by the
police, ensuring that all relevant evidence is gathered, presiding over
enquiries, and making findings; and

(4)The
specific use of pathologists and forensic pathologists. Only
pathologists, or medical practitioners supervised by pathologists, may
conduct post-mortems.

It
is also disquieting that, in the case of K Nagarajan’s arrest, the
protocol prescribed under the Yayasan Bantuan Guaman Kebangsaan (“YBGK”)
scheme does not appear to have been complied with. The guidelines for
enforcement officers provide that as soon as an arrest has been made,
and before the suspect is questioned, the officer must inform the
suspect’s family (or friend) regarding the arrest, and must also provide
details regarding the arrest and the suspect to YBGK. However, K
Nagarajan’s family has reportedly stated that they were not informed
about the arrest, and YBGK did not receive any notification.

K
Nagarajan’s tragic fate is the latest in a deplorable string of deaths
occurring in the context of investigations carried out by law
enforcement agencies. It must be the last. The Malaysian Government
must act now.

On 18 December 2007, the UN General Assembly endorsed a resolution calling for "a moratorium on executions" by an overwhelming majority: 104 votes in favour, 54 against and 29 abstentions. - RESOLUTION 62/149

On 18 December 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a second resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. 106 countries voted in favour of the draft resolution, 46 voted against and 34 abstained.

22/12/2010, the United Nations General Assembly 3rd resolution in favour of a universal moratorium on the death penalty : 108 countries voted in favour, with 41 against and 36 abstentions.

Radio Interviews & VDOs

BFM Radio (13/10/2011) - Talking with Charles Hector and Nico Tuijn about the death penaltyDeath in Dilemma - The Final Curtain (produced by the Malaysian Bar), about 25 minuted, is shown in the first part of this VDO

MADPET (Malaysian Against Death Penalty and Torture)

MADPET is a movement for the abolition of death penalty and torture, and it is also been involved in issues of administration of justice, death in custody, freedom of expression, opposing abuse of power and wrongdoings by the police, prison authorities and other enforment authorities, animal rights, rights of minority groups, housing rights, rights of the disabled, concerns in the criminal justice system. MADPET is for the promotion of human rights, human freedoms and justice in Malaysia and in our world.